The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, assured this Friday in an interview with Antena 3 that “he was warned at all times, from the beginning, through the usual channels” of the risk that DANA implied in the Valencian Community, where they More than 200 people died in this week’s floods.
“It is unfortunately quite common here to have red alerts,” Mazón said last night on television, who is very criticized because the alerts sent by the Generalitat to cell phones only reached the population on Tuesday at 8:12 p.m. . there were already hundreds of people stranded by the storm in the area.
“The meteorological revolution that occurred after 6 p.m. was reported to us by the Confederation and by AEMET, which changed the forecasts”, attributed Mazón last night in this interview, alluding to the fact that “it that’s why the forecasts we gave first in the morning “They did not foresee the meteorological revolution that followed.”
“Notices through the usual channels were permanent; throughout the day, almost hundreds, to municipalities, entities and even the media,” said Mazón, who clarified that the “generalized SMS” that reached the cell phones of the population after 8 p.m. were not sent only as a “last resort”, “linked to the worst possible evil”. According to Mazón, at that time on Tuesday, when many people were already without a way out, it was considered that there could be a “worse” scenario: that “the Forata dam would have overflowed.”
“It was time to use this element of communication more [el SMS del sistema ES-Alert] complementary to that of this day and of previous days,” declared the President of the Generalitat.
AEMET issued the red alert at 7:36 a.m.
As we said this week, The first AEMET notices were issued on Tuesday at 7:36 a.m.while the Meteorological Agency had already warned that the warning was at red level (the maximum alert) in the Valencian Community. Half an hour later, AEMET reported the following: “South coast of Valencia: Rain of torrential intensity. Accumulations of more than 90 l/m² in one hour may cause flooding and floods. Be very careful! The danger is extreme! “Do not travel unless strictly necessary.” His messages were repeated throughout the day.
However, during a press conference held on Tuesday at 1 p.m., at the Palau de la Generalitat, Mazón said: “According to forecasts, the storm is heading towards the Serranía de Cuenca, so it is expected that It occurs around 6 p.m. reduce its intensity in the rest of the Valencian Community.
Paradoxically, the Provincial Delegation of Valencia closed its work centers because of DANA on Tuesday October 29 at 2 p.m. “due to a very high risk for the population”, just when Mazón assured that the storm was calming down and six hours before. decided. Send the alert by SMS to the general population.
Given the attacks and questions that AEMET has received in recent days, the Meteorological Agency published a statement on Thursday in which it clarifies that this organization is responsible for “making forecasts”, while it is up to the authorities “to adopt measures”. Scientists have warned, for their part, that questioning AEMET puts us all in danger.
That same Friday, the spokesperson for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Clare Nullis, highlighted during a press conference the role that AEMET played in the case of Valencia, “which constantly issued warnings throughout the week. The spokesperson also underlined during the same press conference from Geneva the importance of “reducing greenhouse gas emissions” to try to reverse climate change, and of “ensuring that warning systems early reaches everyone.
